Weekend visit by Marieke and Joost

 Saturday, 19 August: breakfast in town at Anne&Max Leiden

Friday evening 18 August up to and including Sunday 20 August 2017: our niece Marieke and her BF Joost visited our home.

visiting the beach in Katwijk & buying lots of fish at Schuitemaker 

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Sunday, 20 August

parking at the new garage 

We rented an electric boat and made a tour through Leiden, with Joost as our skipper. Although rain was predicted, the weather was nice and we even had some sunshine.

meelfabriek

 

Leidse Sterrenwacht in Hortus Botanicus

 

the obligatory selfie 

Ending the day at Fromagerie Bon with an assortment of cheese/ham and a bottle of good wine

A long weekend in Oisterwijk

one of the many fens near Oisterwijk

A long weekend in the Oisterwijk, which is situated in Brabant near the Belgian border to cycle and enjoy good food.

Friday, 11 August we drove to our hotel, the Leijhof hotel. A very familiar name as the district where we live is called Leyhof  :-)

We loved our spacious room and dito bath room, as well as the very comfy beds. The hotel is situated on walking distance (< 5 minutes walk) of the 'hot center' of Oisterwijk; i.e. the main street where all the bars and restaurants are.

After installing our stuff in the room we made our first (short) cycle tour, with an almost immediate  stop at the bakery to buy two typical 'Brabantse worstenbroodjes': yummie.  

Brabants worstenbroodje

 

enormous mushrooms along the route

 

 

we ended our cycling tour at one of the many terraces in Oisterwijk with a beer and bitterballen 

I luvvvvv oysters

In the evening we had dinner at SEC eten en drinken which is on walking distance of our hotel: nice food and wine AND of course I started with oysters. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very good, so we couldn't sit outside.

After dinner we enjoyed a really good glass of US Chardonnay (from Napa valley) in the pub next door.

name of the Chardonnay was Irony.

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Saturday, 11 August

As rain was predicted for the entire day we decided to visit the Contemporary Art museum De Pont in Tilburg. Enjoyed muchly. 

Some photos of things that impressed me:

 

 

Next was a visit to an absolute fav store of me: Niece in Oirschot, where I bought awesome clothes and spent far too much money.

Traditionally we visited Auberge De Zwaan where we sat outside in the sunshine and enjoyed a good glass of wine. While sitting there lots of carriages passed.

Back in Oisterwijk we had a really great dinner at another swan: Restaurant De Swaen.

The wine that accompanied our food was awesome, good choice of P. 

this Swaen too has special glasses 

first course was superb, will try to copy at home 

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Sunday, 12 August

Another cycle tour; this time on memory lane to Riel and surroundings.

the farm in Riel, former home of P.  

tea stop at De Kloostertuin in Alphen

arghhh we cross the border with Belgium

crossing another part of the Belgian border with a shabby burned  house

after the cycle tour we enjoyed a Trappist 

the dog of the people sitting next to us loved the dog beer 

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